Thursday, October 9, 2014

5 Intermediate sewing books I wish existed

Ooh, you get a bonus post from me this week! I've got my weekly pattern roundup post almost ready to go, but I'm all amped up to talk about a different subject right now: Books.

I've been seeing a lot of discussion online recently about the gap in sewing resources between beginning sewists and advanced or couture level sewists. The conversations have struck a chord with me because I think of myself as a very intermediate-level sewist. Like the hypothetical intermediate sewist in these online conversations, I also have no desire to attempt couture techniques at this point in my sewing journey. (Someday I will want to try them, I'm sure, but not with a full-time job where I commute for 1.5+ hours every day and have 2-year-old.) I would, however, love to refine my techniques and add to my repertoire of techniques.

But how?

As a busy mom who is largely self-taught, the obvious answer is through books. Unfortunately, most current sewing books are geared either towards beginning sewists and offer mostly basic projects or target couture techniques and tailoring. The beginner-targeted books can be fun and pretty, but I'm probably not going to learn much from them that I don't already know. And, as I previously mentioned, I don't have much interest in couture methods or in-depth tailoring right now. La Sewista recently wrote a really useful post on books for intermediate sewists, and I actually have a few of the reference books on the list, but that's what they are--reference books. I turn to them if I need to sew a placket or something. (Side note: I am going to try to track down some of those Adele Margolis books that she mentions; they sound wonderful.) Don't those of us who are intermediate sewists deserve some fun books, too? Books with fun projects and pretty pictures and current techniques?

If you make the argument that there isn't the market for intermediate-level books, I disagree. We've seen a huge influx in the number of people who have started sewing in the past few years. At some point, some of those sewists are going to want to move past basic beginner projects and onto more advanced projects.

I've put together of list of five sewing and fitting books that I wish someone would write and publish. Some are project-based and some are more reference-oriented, but I think that all of these would help fill that "resource gap" that a lot of us mid-level sewists feel.

Project-based book for intermediate sewists

Yeah, so I essentially want something like the Colette Sewing Handbook, but for intermediate sewists. Instead of books with A-line skirt patterns and pull-over blouses, how about a project-based book that features patterns for a pair of fly-front pants, a button-down blouse with sleeve plackets, a lined dress, and a lined jacket with welt pockets?

Colette Sewing Handbook

In my mind, this book would start out at the advanced beginner/intermediate level and progress a reader through to the upper range of intermediate. Yes, I can certainly buy patterns that do this, but I want a book with pretty (color) photos and that flesh out the required techniques more than pattern instructions do.

Sewing a coat

Why doesn't this book exist? Seriously, Jenny from Cashmerette is in the process of sewing a coat right now and lamented that helpful resources are all over the internet, but there's no central repository for this stuff. She did, however, do an admirable job of compiling a bunch of coat-making tips, herself. Plus, coat sewing tutorials might tell you what to do, but there's nothing that really tells you what NOT to do, which is often just as helpful. I'm planning to sew a coat (bound buttonholes, interlining, and the whole shebang), and I'd feel a lot less apprehensive about this project if I had a book to walk me through the process from start to finish on a linear path. I want this book to cover the things that my pattern instructions will leave out, including things like back stays, interlining, sewing notched collars. It should explain the pro's and con's about various decisions, such as whether or not to interface the whole coat, bagging a lining vs. hand-stitching, etc.

Troubleshooting book for techniques

Reference books and tutorials show you one way to complete a technique. What they don't usually help you with is figuring out what went wrong if the thing you just sewed doesn't look like the pretty picture in the book. For each "problem", the book would have a photo and then describe what went "wrong" for that particular case and then give advice on how to fix it. For example, it might show a picture of a gaping, flappy notched lapel, describe how the sewist failed to stitch to the point and pivot correctly, and then show the right way to do it. You could cover all kinds of technique issues like this. And if someone who's a more advanced sewist than I am wants to tackle this, email me for a list. ;)

The wonkiness of my first notched lapel collar

Secrets that home sewers don't know because no one tells them

I am ripping off this hypothetical book from this thread on Pattern Review (go to page 6, and scroll down to unfinished project's post in the middle of the page). The idea for this is to point out where most pattern instructions don't usually produce a RTW result. I want a book that tells me how to put a zipper in a lined garment without handstitching. I want a book that incorporates fly shield instructions in with how to sew the zipper fly itself, not as an add-on, "by-the-way" option at the end. My understanding is that Janet Pray's Craftsy class covers a lot of this sort of thing for her denim jacket pattern, but I want a reference that I can read and refer back to when I want to tackle a particular technique.

Sewing for a full bust

So here's a book that I could actually contribute to significantly, if not actually write myself. Fitting the bust is given a chapter, at most, in even the best fitting books. I argue that there's a heck of a lot more to know about fitting the bust and FBAs than can be contained in a 10-15 page chapter. Here's why I'd like to see and think I could fill an entire book on this subject:

Most fitting books and tutorials only show a small-ish FBA--usually 1". If you're making a large FBA of 2" or more, your pattern pieces will look significantly different than the example shown in the book or tutorial. If you haven't done a ton of FBA's, you'll probably wonder, "Am I doing this right? My pattern piece looks so weird." This book would show the FBA examples for 1" and 3" for every type of FBA.

Even the best fitting books usually only show FBAs for a darted bodice, one type of princess seam (either shoulder or armhole, but not both), and maybe a raglan or dolman sleeve top. Beyond that, you're basically told to do a darted bodice and rotate the dart somewhere. This can be intimidating if rotating darts isn't old hat to you.

I'd want a whole chapter on dart rotation--Discussion of the "Big Honkin Dart" problem, how to rotate darts, different location options, and photographs of what those different options look like. Maybe I'd even give some suggestions on which location to use for certain bodice types.

How to convert darts to princess seams--actually walking through the whole process, step-by-step.

Finally, there would be a chapter on troubleshooting your FBA. My thoughts on this are similar to the Troubleshooting book I proposed--many times we think that something doesn't look quite right, but we don't know what we did wrong or how to fix it.

Final thoughts

What do you think about these hypothetical books? Would you find any of them useful? Are there any sewing or fitting related books that you wish existed, but don't?

27 comments:

I'm pretty sure my first comment disappeared. I just wanted to say that I think these would be wonderful books, especially a book about FBA's. I bought the Colette book when I first started and really loved the skill progression, the patterns seemed a little to girly for my style though.

I actually have the first book and never made anything from it because I felt that most the styles were too basic and too girly for me (and I *like* girly a lot of the time). But I loved how it progressed from easier to more difficult and complex projects--I'd love to see a book that was a continuation of that.

I like Gerite Sews Vintage Casual. I would love some project based books for more casual clothes. Jeans with leg modifications, different tee styles, doing a fba in a knit, a project based book with knits. I'm sure there are more. I agree that coats would be great. I've got a bra book I just need to really read it. I also love the Alabama Channin books and techniques. Hot Patterns could make a great book.

Funny thing, I *just* ordered the new Gertie book with a gift card I got for my birthday. It seems promising. And I actually had a "bra book" in my original draft for this post but deleted it because I know that a few of them do exist, but I haven't read any of them yet to know if they're what I'd be looking for or not. I would LOVE for Trudy to write an HP book. :)

The first book you described sounds a lot like the first Sew U book of Built by Wendy fame: it has a skirt, a button-down shirt and a pants pattern (no lined dress, though). She also has a coats and jackets book with 3 different patterns to play with. Alast, the instructions aren't very complete and the size range is TINY. The first book (with the skirt, shirt and pants) goes from XS to L (39 inch bust, I think, which is too small for me), while the other books in the series have patterns from that go up to XL.

I love the idea behind her books: they all come with 3 patterns and instructions to achieve many variations and looks. It's just a shame that sizing is so limited and that the instructions are so simple.

The Sew U book was big back when I had just started sewing, but I never really looked at it because of the size range. (Even back then when I was much slimmer, my bust was still larger than her range.) I do really like that idea of 3 basic patterns and instructions to hack from there.

I too, am self taught and because such don't books exist for I what I really need to know, I decided to invest in patternmaking software. I am way too under-experienced to interpret what most advanced sewists and books teach. I don't do those big pie shaped darts, period. I am a G cup and FBA's are a pain in the patootie. It has to be a shoulder, neckline or armhole princess seam. I can copy styles to fit me or use my customized sloper with a commercial pattern. I have a lot of recommended books but I don't use them. Why? Because I want to sew. I tried being scientific and exacting but I became overwhelmed and quit sewing. I learn as I go. picking up skills through blogs, the Threads website and online videos. Once in a blue moon I will resort to a book. My method may not work for everyone but it works for me and my clients.

Wild Ginger lists cups sizes up to O, but frankly I've never tried it on a chart, not even for kicks. The cup size is determined by the difference between full bust and the underbust(chest). For further tweaking there's a bust adjustment ( it basically adds length and enlarges the dart or seam chosen for bust shaping) in the darts section of the software. However, I really feel that anyone who wants to use software should be aware that while you may get all the circumferences and most of the lengths 85% there, you still need to make a test garment to check that the choices you made will work and the draft isn't off if the differences in proportions are extreme ( ie. 48 b, 26 w, 40 h). In short, you are fully responsible for what the output is. < : ) BTW ver. 6 of Wild Gingers Boutique will be out on 10/15 and there should be a demo to download and fiddle with too. I've messed with software because I'm so short and round with somewhat narrow squared shoulders.Have you tried Lekala yet? Drafted to measures and not a bad test of what high end software does and little cost to you in time & money.

I purchased Pattern Master Knits ($150). It is a product of Wild Ginger Software. There are different packages but I chose knits because you can still create garments for wovens with this one. At the end of creating the pattern, you select the type of fabric you will be using and the pattern adjusts itself. You get to choose the ease you want. Lots of adjustments (width, length, circumference, bust points, hip heights, shoulder width, etc ) available before you actually print the pattern. Easily Amewsed is correct. There are plenty of steps you can take to prevent wadders. They even have a section that will create slopers for you. I make wearable muslins out of the slopers so you can create a win-win situation. You can create any type of sloper for any type of material. You can download a sampler to play around with it but it won't allow you to print anything out. Wild Ginger also sells single patterns and pattern packages. Thinking about the money I have invested in patterns and fabric, I do not think the price is too much. I sew for plus sized women and I have found much success using PMK. I have copied many patterns--which is a BIG SCORE- because I do not have to adjust any patterns. I do not get compensated to promote this product but I highly recommend it for full busted/plus-sized/hard-to-fit women. They also have software for men and children.

I'll take a copy of the coat book and a copy of the FBA book please! The FBA book I would buy in a second because I need it! There are 2 woman in my house (me and 2 daughters) and we all need different FBAs Can we add how to convert princess seams back to darts? My Apple shape doesn't like waist darts at all and that messes up a lot of princess seams for me. I'd like to know how to work around that. For what it's worth - I have a habit of picking up old sewing books (and home ec books too) and they quite often have the "good" instructions for coats. Fund raiser book sale and garage sales are my friend

It's funny, a more updated fitting book for plus/curvy sewists was *also* in my first draft of this post. It seems like all of the fitting books of this nature have a high frump factor. FFRP has great diagrams, but the clothes in the examples aren't exactly an advertisement for why someone should sew for herself.

Please, please, please write the big bust FBA book. You could self-publish as an eBook for starters.

One thing that I'm slowly learning about them (and have never heard explained - but had it been explained my learning curve would have been way shorter) --- you can do the math but you aren't making a top out of sheet metal. You are using fabric. Therefore the math may tell you to spread the pattern 2" but for some reason fabric seems to need less. How much less? That's where having an experienced person just explain to you that maybe a smidgen less for this fabric and even less for a knit or a something. I may be off base - I'm just talking about my own experience.

I still haven't done one successfully so what do I know? It's getting old and I'm finding myself knitting more and more.

Don't think that I haven't thought about self-publishing something. ;) (I do happen to work for a company with a well-regarded self-publishing platform.)

Fabric takes less than a tissue-fitted FBA would dictate because of whatever stretch factor the fabric has, whether it's just mechanical due to the weave or actual lycra content. I don't have that factor down to a science--it's just something I've learned with practice. I'm not sure that I could write about anything beyond general guidelines.

I think that warning people about pattern instructions would be a a very important point to an intermediate sewing book. It would be great, also, if the instructions pointed out that "most pattern instructions will have you do X here, but we recommend doing Y, and here's why."

Did anyone else got the "Full Busted? Sew Clothes that Fit" DVD? I don't have a full bust, but I got it to help me fix things for my daughter who is. It wasn't bad, even though I don't tissue fit it and showed how to do this for various styles like the twist top (she wanted one a the time and I was like...uh..yeah). It also showed the "Y" style FBA too, the one that's supposed to help reduce large side darts and deal with those who have a high bust or are full on the top.True, there aren't many intermediate sewing books and I'm never going to be a couture person. I like basics that have modifications like Stephanie so that's the kind of book I'd like best. I thought about the Craftsy class for sewing a coat, but I've never even made a jacket yet so it's a someday thing. At the moment I just want pants. < : )

I know that some people like the Y-style FBA, but for me, it adds too much fabric to the upper chest area. (I also DEFINITELY do not have a high bust.) But, that's the type of thing that I'm talking about--pointing out the different FBA options and the pros and cons of each.

All of these books sound amazing.For tailoring I'd suggest Classic Tailoring Techniques by Meyers and Cabrera.It's a step by step guide. It's quite dated in its photography and drawings, but it's an amazing resource. (It's this book: http://www.bookdepository.com/Classic-Tailoring-Techniques-Roberto-Cabrera/9780870054358)

I've been boring all my friends (sewing and not) with my wish for a book entitled "What the instruction sheet doesn't tell you". I'm surprised that Taunton/Threads hasn't done something like this, but if they have I haven't found it yet.